<p>I went on this forum thinking that I had a good shot of getting into Duke University. After reading everyone's comments, I don't think I'd be able to get into my local community college. </p>
<p>Seriously, if you read enough of these threads, you'll notice a formulaic pattern:</p>
<p>Initial Post: "Student X has an amazing GPA, fantastic SATs, phenomenal extra-curriculars and reccomendations, and wishes to get into (ivy-league/dream school). What are student X's chances?"</p>
<p>Reply 1: "...your SATs are a little low"
Reply 2: "bit of a reach"
Reply 3: "have u considered (safer school)?"
Reply 4: "you might get in...but im not so sure"</p>
<p>It's obvious that after reading these forums, the vast majority of the posters on this website make up the top 1-5% of all college-bound students. Student X, for example, is inarguably a member of this academic-elite pool, and is well-qualified to attend his/her dream school. However, all of the people who replied to student X's question expressed doubt in his/her acceptance. </p>
<p>Why? Because the 4 students who replied to student X are ALL competing for the same school(s), thus the 4 repliers do NOT want student X to apply to this dream school. Discouragement is commonly seen in these forums because it is a tool used by students to improve their own chances of acceptance.</p>
<p>The point I'm making here is that if you REALLY want to go to a certain school...go for it! View your transcript, standardized test scores, reccomendations, and extra-curriculars BY YOURSELF, and do YOUR OWN research to calculate YOUR OWN chances. Don't be discouraged by these silly "what are my chances?" threads...you'll be a wreck if you follow the advice too closely. You are your best judge.</p>
<p>This forum is actually pretty helpful.
1. Maybe you're just not that good.
2. It IS hard to get into Ivy's nowadays.
3. What's wrong with making it seem a little harder? Then you work harder!</p>
<p>I don't disagree with what anyone before me has said. I didn't try for any ivy league school. Not because I had no chance (although I am sure I didn't), but because I wanted to stay on the west coast. But people said why did you apply to all these schools you don't have a prayer of getting into, and I said because if I don't apply, I really won't have a prayer. If I had reported my stats most on these boards would have laughed and said, not in a million years, don't even try. I don't do chance threads, but I also don't listen to people saying don't.</p>
<p>Actually, most elite colleges readily admit that about 75% of their applicants, could, in fact, handle the workload at their college and probably even be successful. Yes, most people are academically qualified for those top schools but getting admitted in the first place is a whole other obstacle.</p>
<p>Getting chances lets people have somewhat reasonable/pessimistic expectations for their college acceptances. But you are right- I sincerely hope that everyone who makes a Chances thread will still apply to their original schools. After all, nothing feels better than showing people they're wrong. ;-)</p>
<p>actually, I feel that people are too generous with the chances that they give me. I thought that I wouldn't have a chance in hell of going to UF, but after posting my resume most people say that I am a match to go there.</p>
<p>I agree with you Madboy. Those are generally the replies that most people on this site get. I don't think it is done on purpose though. The majority of people who reply to posts tend to be high school students who obviously haven't had the experience of college admissions yet or a few college students who believe that since they were accepted their record is the way to get in. I talked to a Harvard grad a little while ago about the entire admissions process, (he had just graduated) and he said he had absolutely no idea what got him in. It was his dream school, so he decided just to go for it. I think that is exactly what people should be doing. If you feel like you have any chance and you really have the drive then just see what happens!</p>
<p>Edit: Oh, and you're not alone tallchild. I usually get more generous replies, but when I go through the forums, I see the kind of responses madboy is talking about.</p>